Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Seeker-Sensitive

I've been trying for a while to determine which church to become a member of. I'd like to have something more charismatic, where I can jump and yell and dance and sing random harmonies for Jesus without having it hinder anyone else's faith. I also need it to be straight up biblical, rooted in solid theology. And one thing I've noticed about a LOT of churches nowadays is their need to be seeker-sensitive, eg. transforming the end of every sermon into an altar call. 
Now, I'm definitely not opposed to an altar call; I love seeing people come to Christ in any way possible. I know I have a strange conversion story, so I'm a strong believer in the fact that God can use pretty much anything to lead people to him; after all, he's God! But to have one at the end of every sermon feels somewhat contrived to me.
From what I've read in the Bible (and forgive me for not quoting scripture, this blog is mostly to express thoughts and not researched statements), the church is supposed to engage the world to bring people to Christ. And a lot of the model that we are presented with in the church today is to bring a friend to church so that they can come to Christ. This leads to sermons almost always being 'seeker-sensitive,' not digging deep into great biblical thought or theology for fear of driving away new believers. Paul says that we need to move past spiritual milk, and I'm afraid that this attitude can at times prevent us from doing so. 


So what shall we do instead of bringing our friends to church? Bring the gospel to them. Our lives should be so radically different that they should see it. If your life is not that different, and I struggle with this too, something is off. Jesus would never have been seen as just another carpenter. Everyone who met him would see the difference. That's how we need to be.
Again, I'm not opposed to altar calls in church, but I'm rather afraid that the entire 'seeker-sensitive' movement can be dangerous to our faith. Thoughts? Opinions?

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